2008 edition of the get to know me quiz!

1. What time did you get up this morning? The dogs graciously allowed me to wallow in bed until 6am, but it was a struggle involving lots of pawing and shoving.

2. Diamonds or pearls? ooooh, can I have both?

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Eagle Eye and I was very entertained, though it felt more like a summer movie than a fall one. I am looking forward to How to Lose Friends and Alienate People this coming Friday (I think that's the correct title)

4. What is your favorite TV show? Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe (now, who's really surprised here? come on, really.)

5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Oatmeal, cream of wheat, scrambled egg and cheese bagel or nutrigrain waffles with natural peanut butter. Keeps things interesting. Did you know that if you microwave one scrambled egg in a cereal bowl it comes out to the PERFECT shape of a bagel?

6. What is your middle name? Terrell

7. What food do you dislike? Tomatoes, unseasoned/lightly seasoned tomato based products, and liver

8. What is your favorite CD at moment? Korn or my audiobook of Dean Koontz's The Taking....or Richard Matheson's I Am Legend....good stuff all.

9. What kind of car do you drive? Kia Rio, 40 miles per gallon baby!

10. Favorite sandwich? grilled cheese made with real butter and real mayo

11. What characteristic do you despise? Entitlement

12. Favorite item of clothing? pajamas

13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? back to the Connemara Coast in Ireland

14. Favorite brand of clothing? Cheapest, most comfortable

15. Where would you retire to? Given my druthers, some where cool in the summer and temperate in the winter

16. What was your most recent memorable birthday? I've had a couple of birthdays that I'm sure are quite memorable for whoever I was with but not so much for me :)

17. Favorite sports to watch? Hockey, equestrian events, gymnastics, ice skating, does any one else watch the Strongest Man competitions on that obscure ESPN channel? Does Ninja Warrior count?

18. Furthest place you are sending this? It's the internet, this is a stupid question, I'm not mailing it for cryin' out loud!

19. Person you expect to send it back first? Whoever picks it up is welcome to put it on their own blog or chosen social media.

20. When is your birthday? Mar 2

21. Are you a morning person or a night person? morning, I get sleepy early...and when I get sleepy I get mean (or at least pretty peevish)

22. What is your shoe size? 9.5

23. Pets? Binky! You can check out the Binkster in the sidebar!

24. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us? I refered my mom to the dentist I use and they are sending me free movie tickets for the referal!

25. What did you want to be when you were little? Veterinarian (Yay for Vet wannabees!), police officer, talented artist....alas.

27. What is your favorite candy? Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

28. What is your favorite flower? Yellow roses, any color gerber daisy, I like all the weedy sort of flowers, the stuff they usually stick in the back of a bouquet for filler :)

29. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? EvErY DaY! Every day you wake up healthy is a good day!

30. What is your full name? Holley Terrell W. (sheesh, this quiz is worse than filling out forms at the doctor's office!)

31. What are you listening to right now? Tucker's incessant snoring and farting...this dog has been SeRiOuSlY gassing me for daaaaaayyyyyyysssss!

32. What was the last thing you ate? Some Cheesits...they were a little stale.

33. Do you wish on stars? of course

34. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? green

35. How is the weather right now? It's a breezy, beautiful night!

36. The first person you spoke to on the phone today? I have no idea but she did want to renew her library books and I directed her call to the proper department. She sounded like a really nice lady.

37. Favorite soft drink? Rootbeer and Dr. Pepper

38. Favorite restaurant? El Cazador and La Tortilla are my favorites!

39. Real hair color? Brown (and I will express love and affection for the grey coming in!)

40. What was your favorite toy as a child? transformers

41. Summer or winter? Summer until I get tired of the heat, winter til I get tired of the cold...know what I mean?

42. Hugs or kisses? Hugs

43. Chocolate or Vanilla? Vanilla, but I'm lactose intolerant so let's keep it down to the minimum...

44. Coffee or tea? Coffee!

45. Do you want your friends to email you back? If this were an email that'd be great! Put it up on your blog!

46. When was the last time you cried? last week, when my called me crying because her dog died after getting in a fight with another dog over the ladies, if you catch my meaning...

47. What is under your bed? whatever Binky has barfed up under there...I'm thinking cat food and hairballs, I'll have to check and get back to you...

48. What did you do last night? Watched TV, read some of my current book

49. What are you afraid of? spiders, any bugs with long jointed legs, various social situations, trusting other people

50. Salty or sweet? salty

51. How many keys on your key ring? 9, I think...the perils of semiprofessional petsitting!

52. How many years at your current job? 8

53. Favorite days of the week? Friday

54. How many towns have you lived in? 4

55. Do you make friends easily? no

56. How many people will you send this to? again, it's the internet, I don't have a number

57. How many will respond? maybe 3 or 4

evenin' ya'll!

my s-n-s catalog so far

I affectionately refer to this as The Wound...me and red paint just seem to have a complicated relationship
This is Monet's Invasion.  It is supposed to be Monet's Waterlillies but I am convince that mine look like a fleet of invading UFO's, three of which are engulfed in flame with one spectacular crash in the bottom right hand corner.  What do you think?

These are supposed to be red tulips and I think they look like...red tulips!  Yay for Holley!

the highways and biways . . .

 . . . of the internet

so here are some of the recent search terms that have brought people to my humble blog:

• who is lonney holley - spelled a different way, Lonnie Holley is a celebrated folk artist working through the mediums of sandstone and rock, paint and recycled found-object sculpture.  Hope that's who they were looking for as his stuff RoCkS!
• zombies are cool penguin t-shirt - I have one of these and I lurve it!  It did not get washed with the book like my other two Halloween tshirts, thank goodness!
• new fun website - I hope you found mine to be so!
• what if i never want to date again - I fully support that policy, except when I don't.  I have been dateless now for going on five years and sometimes I'm okay with it and sometimes....I'm not.  I know plenty of people I wouldn't go to a landfill with who date and break up constantly.  I'm not too terribly mean, I'm fully self sufficient, I own my own home, I own my own car, I have a great job, I can converse on any number of topics, parents and siblings usually find me very agreeable but I am overweight and that, my friends, throws you under the bus socially.  No one will touch you, figuratively or literally.  Too much drama, too much unnecessary stress...so I've decided not to worry about it.  I don't want children and marriage isn't too terribly important to me so there's no rush.
• mat lurnin - Hope you found him
• public whipping (wow, one from england and one from new york!) - forget water boarding, this is obviously the new hot topic across the globe.  I think we should re-instate it.  I just finished a true crime book about a serial killer active in London during the Luftwaffe (sp?).  When they solved the crime, he was arrested, tried, sentenced and hanged in the space of several months.  
• how do houses look today - um, boxy?  Mine is certain looking cleaner and more tidy these days!
• pressure garments - Not to harp too much on it, but everyone HAS visited their local library for a copy of Andrew Davidson's The Gargoyle haven't they?
• pine needle stuck under fingernail - ouch!
• holley, blogspot - maybe they were actually looking for me?
• cause and effect of overloading - at work, indigestion no doubt from the onset of an ulcer
• gayla holley - hope you found this person
• false negative sleep study - my sleep study experience is no worth rehashing
• bad sleep study - I feel your pain, but I'm glad I stuck it out
• spankin boy - everybody needs one :)

I would just like to point out for trivia's sake that I had two separate visits from the Vale of Glamorgan in England, one from the city of Penarth and and one from Barth.  KT, how George R.R. Martin-esque is that?!?

buzz, buzz, meow

you just don't let me know when you get tired of this and I'll be glad to not stop :)

#15

If you have a litter of kittens, head for your local wine store and get an empty champagne carton-complete with the cardboard bottle dividers.  Place it on its side and you've got a 12-holed "beehive" house for your kittens to play in.  Our litters love them, constantly chasing each other in and out of the holes and using them for sleeping hideaways. 

H.G., Geneva, IL.

Okay, this sounds fun AND cute!  I'm going to make a note of it for when I get more kittens, though it won't be a litter by any means, just two of them to keep each other company.  I feel like Binky must get bored here by herself all day.  I won't get new kittens now because Bink doesn't appreciate competition :)

an important psa

This is a washing machine. (though not mine)
This is a book.  A book I loved dearly.
This is the book I loved dearly after a trip through a washing machine (mine this time).  That is not a tampon with it, it is all that's left of the gluey spine.
This is the mess that is created when you discover that you have washed a book in your washing machine, start to cuss profusely, cry a little when you find the wet, bedraggled cover and truly understand the paper carnage.
This is the clean, fluffy paper down that now covers all of your winter socks, mittens, gloves, hats and scarves after you wash the book you dearly love in your washing machine.

The lesson:

Never throw a pile of clothes in the washer without checking it for foreign objects and don't wash your books in the washing machine.

That is all.

how do I count the ways...

so, today's pick from 187 Ways to Amuse a Bored Cat is pretty tame and not a little creeepy...

#131 Playing Baby
My cat likes me tohold him like a baby in my arms. When I do, he puts his tail in his mouth, holds it with his paws, and sucks on it like a bottle.
J.O.-Idaho Falls, ID

um...I don't know what to say really. I have encountered something similar though. Once upon a time I was a kennel tech at a local vet clinic/boarding facility and we once had a little kitten stay for about a week. Not unusual perhaps but if you picked him up, he'd crawled up to your shoulder and suck on your earlobe. I don't think that cat stayed in a cage the entire time he was there except at night. I wish I could remember his name...it was Mr. something but I just can't recall.

I have been tagged . . .

. . . by the lovely and talented Book Diva!

Eight Random Facts about Me:

1. I was named after a carburetor. Seriously. I have a supply of stickers purchased from their site. :)
2. I used to have a pet box turtle named Mr. Fred and two crows named Heckle and Jeckle.
3. I once received a Bobcat for Christmas.
4. I have kissed the Blarney Stone.
5. I love Gravedigger.
6. I am a tattooed librarian.
7. I love Guillermo del Toro and M. Night Shyamalan movies...all of them. Deal with it.
8. I don't like gold jewelry.
9. I am lactose intolerant.
10. I don't eat tomatoes, ketchup, or any tomato-based products that are not heavily seasoned (where they don't taste like tomatoes).

Alright, who's next! I'm going to tag (the Book Diva didn't leave me many options!):

• T, though she'll have to follow through in the comments since she doesn't blog
• KP
• Carrie - Get to BLOGGING! I'm going to keep bugging you!
• Zippyvet - ditto!
• Lauren

Your turn ladies and gent!

a new feature!

My friend Polly game me this great little book entitled 187 Ways To Amuse a Bored Cat!: The Complete Cat Entertainment Guide edited by Howe and Ruth Stidger and published in 1982.  They have collected stories from random cat owners in which they describe the odd things that amuse their cats.  I have randomly selected an entry and it is:

#85 Ice Hockey

It's a bit messy, but our cat enjoys batting an ice cube around the kitchen floor, especially on hot days.  Keep an eye on things so you can pick the cube up to keep it from melting when your cat tires of the game. --A.H., Odgen, UT

Some are funnier than others, but I think I might actually try this one out.  Binky's favorite toy right now is a Q-Tip....that's my girl!  Keepin' it interllectualized!

sundays

let me tell you why I don't like them...at least when I have to work anyway.

We are only open from 1-5 on Sundays and people try to stuff a whole weekend's worth of work into one day.  The teens all goofed off yesterday and were frenetic about getting their shit done today and it was all our fault.  One Paris Hilton wannabee questioned me extensively about Microsoft Brochure Maker...quite pissy when I told her I didn't know what the f*&k she was talking about wasn't familiar with that program.  Of course, it was Publisher that she wanted AND she wanted someone to stand over her and show her how to do it...as if there weren't 15 other people milling around the dept needing help with their own Very Important Tasks.  

Kids were in the study rooms screaming and chasing one another around the tables.  I brought the heat on one room and told them if I heard one more peep they'd find somewhere else to go. Miracle of miracles, they were quiet as church mice for the rest of the day but as they left and were headed down the stairs I heard one boy say, "That lady was so mean..."  I don't know for sure that he was talking about me but I experienced a little glow of pleasure all the same.  All I did was tell them to be quiet...these were obviously teens who'd never been spanked as children. If you aren't firm with them, they just laugh at you, mutter an obscenity at your back and carry on as before and I just don't put up with that.  The other study room I had trouble out of (and it was one of my FaVoRiTe teens!  it really did hurt my feelings to have to go over there this time) occured later in the afternoon.  I heard shrieking and chairs scraping up little curls of Brazilian Cherry from the hardwood floors.  I stood up to see him (the fav) and a girl grappling over some object.  The other boy in the room joined in the fray and some dragging of bodies across the floor took place over said object.  So I was well and truly pissed off when I got to the door, then they all sat down when I knocked and just looked at me.  The door was locked and if I could have kicked it in I would have.  When the other boy finally got up and opened the door, the talk was considerably more polite that at the first room but I was just as angry and he knew it.  They all came by to apologize for their behavior when they left.  

There were no margaritas to be had at my fav local Mexican restaurant as it is Sunday and in many places in Alabama, that means no alcoholic beverages are sold.  So now it's time for some Yellow Tail Shiraz, which my refrigerator thoughtfully keeps cool even on Sundays.  I've really got to get some Xanax or Valium or something...it'll be eight months before school's out again and I don't know if I can make it that far.  My last nerve is already red, raw and quivering.

redecorating

or rather...rearranging.

I got up early today (as I told KT I would) and swapped two rooms out.  These are the rooms formerly occupied by Mrs. Roomie.  My original intention was to have my honorary clothes dryer exercise equipment in one room as a little home gym and set up the other as my office.  Through circumstances I can't even remember now, my computer and accompanying hardware ended up in the same room with my recumbant bike and the actual computer desk was in the other room with a box of coat hangers and an ironing board.

Now, dear reader, I am at the altar of computery goodness with my nice computer desk and accompanying stuff while all the exercise crap is in the other room AND I vacuumed the lot!  I was almost late for work due to my good work ethic.  Unfortunately, the good intentions I had to come home and make some inroads in the living room were drowned in bowl of salsa, then dunked in some refried beans and finally finished of in a shrimp fajita burrito.  I don't know what the deal is, but I crave Mexican food ALL THE TIME!  And before anyone asks the question, no it isn't that.  

Anyway, I've been in my local Latino restaurant so often that I'm thinking about introducing myself.  I always take a book in with me (because I believe people dining alone don't look quite so creepy with a book in hand...unless it was the one I was reading!) and several of the employees are now in the habit of stopping by the table to ask what I'm reading.  KT, I really should be getting some comp time at work from all the reader's advisory outreach I do a La Tortilla :)  Today it was true crime.  I am reading what I think is an outstanding book by Simon Read called In the Dark: The True Story of the Blackout Ripper about a serial killer stalking the women of London during the Luftwaffe.  After sunset, London circa 1942 was a pit of darkness.  Streetlights were extinguished, women spent long hours sewing "blackout curtains" for their homes, and constables patroled the streets all night long to ensure that the stygian darkness remained complete...anything to take the advantage away from the German bombers overhead.  Into this darkness steps a fiendish killer who uses his good looks and charm to get past the suspicions of lovely ladies.  I am about 1/4 of the way through the book and the killer has just  escalated exponentially the depravity of his crimes.  

It's creeping me out a little.  Good stuff!  The book group I lead at work (actually, a genre reading group as I like to call it) is reading true crime this month and I found this slim little jewel of a paperback via one of my favorite blogs, In Cold Blog!